"You," said the Moderator, "are a test experiment!"
"What?"
"A test experiment. On your psychological reactions will depend the
ultimate fate of the humanoids!"
"A test experiment," he repeated dazedly. "What do you mean?"
"Simply this. For some time we've realized that steps must be taken to
curb the rapaciousness of the humanoids."
"But me...."
The Moderator held up his hand.
"I'm coming to you. If the ruthless savagery of the humanoids was
instinctive, part of their heredity, there was little that could be
done except destroy them.
"But if, on the other hand, their natures resulted from the pressure
of their environment, we might be able to modify that environment and
salvage our experiment."
"But what the hell am I? What did you mean when you said I was a test
experiment?"
The Moderator seemed to have forgotten the existence of Saxon's weapon.
He tugged at his lower lip with thumb and forefinger. "You are not a
humanoid. You are one of us, a Varkan. We placed you as a baby on Earth
to be raised as a humanoid."
"I was eleven," protested Saxon.
"A mere baby still, with psychological plasticity." The Moderator
waved the objection aside. "If your disposition hardened into humanoid
characteristics, then we would be safe in assuming that the humanoids,
too, were a product of their environment.
"Of course, there were factors we couldn't control. The natural
unfolding of your sixth and seventh senses in early childhood--"
Saxon burst out, "But I was twenty-seven when I developed a sixth sense
and thirty-one--"
"My son, that's quite true. But you're only in your adolescence now."
"At thirty-eight," said Saxon in disbelief, "I'm an adolescent?"